[sustran] Our fast evolving sustainability agenda

[eric.britton at ecoplan.org]

Sustainable transportation and its proponents are no longer the weakest kids
on the block.  Things are changing. For example....

Exhibit A:
Today's note here, "Pedicab drivers sue Governor Sutiyoso for operating
ban", can be looked at with several other current pieces on the topic of
transport in cities, and including in but not limited to Third World cities,
which I would like to set before you for your consideration and eventually
your comments.  There are three pieces, of which the above is, let us call
it, Exhibit A.

Exhibit B:
El Tiempo, the main newspaper of Bogotá (which I remind you is to shortly,
next Thursday, to be the home of the world's first mega Third World Car Free
Day - see http://www.ecoplan.org/carfreeday/) of this morning carries an
article based on an interview with our friend and colleague Ralph
Gakenheimer of MIT (whom the label a 'gurú del transporte', and rightly so)
under the title 'Metro evitará polarización' which makes the case for a
metro for Bogotá. You can pick up the article at
http://www.eltiempo.com/hoy/bog_n005tn0.html, and if that doesn't work (that
link being date sensitive), try
http://www.eltiempo.com/sabado/bog_n005tn0.html. (Remembering of course that
you can 'machine translate' it for rough content and context)

Exhibit C:
The English language text of an interview conducted by the same newspaper
yesterday here in Paris, which looks at Bogotá's transport system from a
somewhat different perspective.

Conclusion:
My point is this. I believe that these are three pieces of the same puzzle,
that they fit in with each other quite nicely, and that one of the main
tasks of the transportation profession and others making decisions in this
area is to understand that there is indeed a "big picture" which ties up all
these apparently unconnected bits and pieces quite nicely.  And that is our
evolving concept of sustainable transportation.

Put in other words, what I am trying to say is that it appears that we are
moving toward this greater goal piece by piece, and that all we have to do
now is to maintain the momentum and keep moving ahead with our extension and
refinement of the agenda.  A couple of more years of hard work, successful
demonstrations, and effective communications between us, and we will have
our wedge into the problem.

Anyone out there wish to comment on, amplify or otherwise improve on this?


Eric Britton

ecopl at n ___  technology, economy, society  ___
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France


Interview of Eric Britton, EcoPlan, by María Camila Morales
Correspondent de El Tiempo,

Paris, 18 February 2000


CAR FREE DAYS - A GOOD WAY TO FISH FOR GOOD TRANSPORTATION


Question - Will the Bogotá's Car Free Day of the 24th solve all the
transport problems of the capital?

Response - Who thinks that?  No, of course it won't.

María Camila Morales - Well, if it doesn't solve the problems, why bother to
have it in the first place?

Eric Britton - For a lot of reasons, but let me start with this one. What it
accomplishes is getting all or most of the vehicles off the street that are
not doing their full job. And when we say "full job" what we really mean is
that because street space is scarce in big cities like Bogotá (or for that
matter London or Berlin or Paris) there just is not enough room available to
accommodate lots of private cars with just  one or two people in them.

In the end it's a simple matter of geometry.  The geometry of the car, is
not the same as the geometry of a city. So you have to chose, which do you
want?  A city for cars?  Or a city for people?  Have you ever been to a city
for cars.  I have and let me tell you it's awful. If you have a choice,
believe me, what you want is a city for people.

MCM- Okay, so lets assume that what you say is true, still what do we
accomplish by getting the cars out for a single day? If I believe what you
say, why not get them all out all of the time?

EB- Well, that's a great question.  What do they say: "if wishes we wings
then we all could just fly". So, no matter how desirable it might be to have
cities without any cars (and that too is something that is worth a careful
debate) we have to take into account that we live in a democracy and that a
lot of people have and depend on their cars (I for example have a car,
though I never use it during the day in the city). So you have to admit that
anyone who tries to get them all off the road forever, even if he thinks he
has a magic wand, is going to run into a huge wall of resistance.  Can you
imagine what would happen if anyone tried to do that?

No, there is of course no way that we can take all the cars off the road in
one sweep.  But if we do get together, we might be able to do it for a
single day.  Especially if we have some good reasons and good public support
for doing it. And that of course is the basic premise behind Bogotá's Car
Free Day next Thursday.

MCM- I'm still having trouble with this one. So we get the cars off the
street on the 24th, but what difference does it make?

EB- The difference is that for once, if only for one day, we can begin to
see what out city might look like if we had a transportation system that
made better use of our street space and in the process offered more, better
and faster service for more people.  What some of us call the beginning of a
sustainable transport system.

MCM- Are you saying, Professor Britton, that everyone in Bogotá should be
getting around by "Buses, Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas"?

EB- Well that's certainly an important part of the long run solution but
there's more to it than that. Let's not forget Bogotá has created almost 300
km of cycle paths (and by he way, what a wonderful accomplishment that is!),
and that with less traffic and less danger on at least some streets we can
expect that there will be many more people cycling, walking, running and
even inline skating to work. Don't you think it's going to be great seeing
how all these people are going to be able to go about the business of their
daily lives in this way?  (And by the way, please call me Eric.)

MCM- Thank you Eric, but what about pollution? And noise?  And safety?  Do
you really think that moving people into the colectivos and taxis for one
day is going to make Bogotá a safer and clear city?  I have read that they
are about the most dangerous, polluting, dirty and inefficient parts of our
whole system.  I have even heard that there have been recommendations by
North American experts that we should get rid of all of them and go over to
a big state owned system with only new big buses.  And of course the metro?

EB- Isn't this ironic? Here you are suggesting, as I read in one place, that
one of the main problems of Bogotá is that there are: "MUCHOS buses, MUY
lentos y MUY viejos". If I had to score that one, I would give it one and a
half out of three.

MCM- One and a half out of three?  I don't understand.

EB- Well, as anyone can see they are for the most part "muy viejos". That's
one.  And they are often "muy lentos", but not always as you know if you
ride in them.  When they are slow, it's because they have been slowed down
by the congestion.  And much of that congestion is due to cars with only one
or tow people in them.  Which indeed is why we are trying this Car Free Day.

MCM- And the "muchos" part?

EB- Well, there is where the critics have it quite wrong. In fact, it is my
view, which by the way is shared by many of my most internationally esteemed
colleagues, that one of the great accomplishments of a city like Bogotá is
precisely that it has so many different sizes and kinds of vehicles, going
to so many different places, in so many different ways. That they are owned
and operated by independent people, without the need for huge clumps of
public funding just to keep them going. And don't forget, they create lots
jobs.

In fact, what you have here is the beginning of one of the world's most
suitable and sustainable urban transportation systems.  What a pity it would
be to throw it away because someone with a weak PhD suggests that you should
try to look like Paris. In fact, as someone who lives and works in Paris, I
cannot wait for the day that we have them here.

MCM- So to conclude, Eric, how will our Car Free Day help us with this.

EB- Well, on the 24th you all are gong to be able to see all those "Buses,
Busetas, Colectivos, Taxis y Flotas" working as the vital core of your
motorized transport system. And at the end of the day you will see that
there were not too many of them.  And yes, you will see too they need to be
newer and better maintained. That the drivers need to be better trained and
a bit more disciplined (and that they also have to be organized so that they
earn more money and have a better life for themselves as well).

What's great about the Car Free Day is that by removing part of the problem,
you are going to be able to see much more clearly what it is you have to do
next to have a much better and more just transportation system, a better
city and a better life for all who live here.

Thank you for asking me such tough but interesting questions.